DCCC Tries To Politicize Sexual Assaults In Military
According to The Hill, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is circulating an email with a link to a petition "urging supporters to back legislation to remove sexual assault cases from the military chain of command."
The email was sent on May 18, seeking backers for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-NY) efforts to take sexual assault "and other felony-level cases" away from the military.
Here's part of the message the email carried to those who received it: "Democrats in Congress are taking a stand to better protect our service men and women--but they need our support to ensure that independent prosecutors are deciding whether to prosecute sexual assault crimes."
The email contains a link to the petition on Senator Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) website.
The petition is also backed by Republican Susan Collins of Maine.
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Obama Dines with Top Democrats
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama will dine with top Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
According to the Hill, other attendees will include:
Reps. James Clyburn (SC), the assistant Democratic leader; Xavier Becerra (CA), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus; Joseph Crowley (NY); vice chairman of the Caucus; Chris Van Hollen (MD), senior Democrat on the Budget Committee; Rosa DeLauro (CT) and Rob Andrews (NJ), the co-chairmen of the Democrat's Steering and Policy Committee; Steve Israel (NY), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and Mike Thompson (CA), who chairs the Democrats' task force to prevent gun violence.
The White House said the dinner will be held at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington.
Obama will have dinner with these top Democrats the night after Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch lost a special election in South Carolina's first Congressional district to Republican Mark Sanford.
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Obama: Pelosi Will Regain Speakership
President Barack Obama attended two fundraisers on Wednesday on San Francisco's "Billionaires' Row" and said it would be a "whole lot easier" to govern if House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became House Speaker after 2014.
Obama even said he expected Pelosi "is going to be once again the Speaker of the House."
The President attended fundraisers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) at the homes of Tom Steyer, who is pushing Obama to more aggressively back "climate change" bills, and Ann and Gordon Getty.
Democrats need to win 17 seats to take back the House in 2014, and Obama is prioritizing that goal, since the Republican-controlled House remains his primary legislative obstacle. While Democrats accomplished little while they held control of the House and a Senate supermajority from 2009-2010, the President may pursue a more aggressive legislative agenda with control of both houses now that he does not have to face his own reelection in 2016.
“My intention here is to try to get as much done with the Republican Party over the next two years as I can, because we can’t have perpetual campaigns,” Obama said, according to The Hill. "But I would be dishonest if I didn’t say that it would be a whole lot easier to govern if I had Nancy Pelosi as Speaker."
Obama said he just wanted to "get stuff done" when it came to bills dealing with immigration and climate change.
According to The Hill, tickets cost between $5,000 and $32,400 for both of Wednesday's Pacific Heights fundraisers. Obama will hold two events on Thursday in Atherton, California. At one event, 30 people will pay $32,400 each to have brunch with Obama. At the second event, attendees will pay between $1,000 and $20,000 to meet Obama.RNC Chair Reince Priebus accused Obama of hypocrisy.
“On the campaign trail Obama’s favorite applause line was attacking the very people he’s now begging for campaign cash,” Priebus said. “Hypocrisy at its finest. Barack Obama has his priorities completely backward — prioritizing billionaires over the taxpayers who demand and deserve a budget and canceling White House tours while he spends $180,000 an hour flying Air Force One to fundraise on Billionaires Row.”
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‘Campaigner-in-Chief’ to Fundraise for Democrats on SF’s ‘Billionaires’ Row’
President Barack Obama does not have to run for re-election anymore, but his permanent campaign continues, as Obama will attend fundraisers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley this week to help Democrats take back Congress in 2014.
According to the White House, Obama "will attend two fundraisers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee" on Wednesday in San Francisco, CA. Those fundraisers will be held on "Billionaires Row," reportedly at the homes of Gordon Getty and green energy advocate Tom Steyer.
On Thursday, Obama will fundraise for the Democratic National Committee, which is nearly broke, in Atherton, California at two private residences. Atherton is one of the wealthiest areas in Northern California, situated not too far from Stanford University.
As White House Dossier notes, Obama seems intent on trying to take back the House for Democrats in 2014 so he can have two years to ram through every piece of liberal legislation he wants without himself having to face consequences for policies Americans do not like at the ballot box.
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Dems Ready to Take the House in 2014
Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is trying to stir up confidence among House Democrats for 2014, claiming that they are in better shape than they have been for years. Israel released a three-page memo delineating different reasons for his confidence. Among them are:
- Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign is still in place
- While Obama concentrated all the finances he could raise on his own reelection, leaving congressman twisting in the wind, he has promised to hold 14 fundraisers for House and Senate Democrats now.
- The DCC has $5 million less debt than in 2012.
- The super PAC called House Majority PAC, which didn’t exist in 2010, geared up in 2012, spending $40 million, and is ready for 2014.
- Israel thinks that the Democrats that the GOP has targeted for defeat are invincible. These include Reps. John Barrow (Ga.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Nick Rahall (W.Va.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.) and Ron Barber (Ariz.) Israel stated that most of those targets survived the massive GOP victory in 2010 and were reelected in the presidential election year of 2012, when "the top-of-the-ticket lost their districts by double digits."
- The redistricting of the House that favored the GOP made districts more red, which will make the GOP candidates hew to the right in order to win their primaries, which will hurt them in the general election.
- Democrats will win on the issues; a February Public Policy Polling said congressional approval languished at 9% and a Gallup poll said Democrats are ahead in name identification; Israel bloviated that "approval of this Tea Party Republican Congress continues to plummet."
But National Republican Committee Chairman Liesl Hickey was not disturbed. She said,
"As a result of redistricting, which favored Republicans, and this well-executed [offensive] strategy — the House is well-aligned and firmly in GOP control. The national map of competitive House races looks very different headed into 2014. Namely, it’s smaller and Republicans have the upper hand."
Dems Face Uphill Task to Take Back House
It's almost two years until the midterm elections in 2014, so people can be excused their occasional flights of fancy. Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) released a memo to his colleagues arguing that the Democrats are well-poised to win a majority in the House in next year's elections. His three-page memo has a veneer of plausibility to it. That veneer, however, is no match against the headwinds of reality.
In 2012, Democrats picked up eight seats in the House, leaving the GOP in the majority with 234 seats. In order to take control of the House in 2014, the Democrats will need a net gain of 17 seats. That would be an historic pick-up, given the generally lower-turnout election will not have the same tilt as a presidential electorate. The only President whose party gained seats in the sixth year of his term was Bill Clinton, when Democrats picked up five seats in the House.
The Democrats face a more fundamental challenge in the drive to win the majority. Many of the results are already "baked in" as a result of redistricting. Mitt Romney carried 225 districts in 2012, enough seats needed to form a majority in the House. As a result, Democrats need to win eight districts carried by Romney last year. Republicans hold 15 seats where Obama won the presidential vote. If these members survived the Obama turnout machine, it is hard to see them too vulnerable with Obama not on the ballot. Six Democrats currently hold districts whose voters chose Romney over Obama. Democrats will again have to defend these seats in a less favorable political climate.
Turnout for midterms is sharply lower than presidential years. The electorate in midterms, outside of other factors, tends to lean more Republican, as Republicans are more reliable voters than Democrats. In 2012, for example, the electorate was D+6, and in 2010 the electorate was even. Keep in mind, though, that Republicans won 234 seats from an electorate that leaned strongly toward the Democrats.
One hope for the Democrats is that Obama's vaunted turnout operation will be used to help their elections. It is possible Obama's campaign apparatus will try to help, but it is unclear how successful that operation is when Obama's not on the ballot. After Bush's reelection in 2004, the GOP was the clear leader in its turnout operation. That didn't prevent the Republicans from being swept from power two years later, as voter anger over the Iraq war hit its climax.
It is outside factors, though, that will provide the biggest threat to Democrat plans to take the House. Obama's approval ratings have already come back from their post-election highs. The lower ratings for his recent State of the Union address suggests some Obama-fatigue may be setting in among voters. His aggressive push for gun control is deeply unpopular with a block of voters who could have significant impact in the lower-turnout midterms.
There are two bigger problems, however, for Democrats' dreams. The economy shrank in the 4th Quarter in 2012, indicating a very weak economy. The economy could easily tip back into recession or, at best, limp along with anemic growth. After 6 years in office, Obama won't be able to skirt responsibility for the weak economy. That could make the elections very difficult for his party.
Also, in 2014, most of the provisions of ObamaCare finally take effect. How that plays out may blow-up Democrat designs on a majority. It is of course possible that implementation goes smoothly and exactly as Democrats promised back in 2010. It is equally possible, however, that employers treat the dawn of ObamaCare with reduced hours, dropped coverage, and more part-time workers as opposed to full-time. It is also possible that the exchanges, where uninsured consumers are supposed to buy health insurance, will be a bureaucratic morass.
Where would you make your wager?
In just a year, we will finally "find out" what's in ObamaCare. A GOP majority in 2014 is probably not what Nancy Pelosi had in mind.
Obama Offers Help to Congressional Dems in 2014
After President Obama’s victory in 2008, he quickly disappeared from the midterm Congressional elections in 2010; Democrats ran from him. But now they’re looking to be his best friend again after his re-election victory. Obama has apparently offered House Democrats help in their races in 2014, hoping to resecure the House from Republicans.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-NY) told The Hill that Obama and he had spoken three times, including election night. Obama selfishly kept all money for his campaign in 2012 rather than funneling it to tough House races. “He has been proactive in offering assistance,” said Israel. “We’re talking to the campaign about what that assistance means. We have asked for some financial support.” Israel apparently had to tell Obama that giving cash would be the most important for Obama’s legacy. Which is all Obama cares about.
For Israel, the big hero of 2012 wasn’t Obama. It was Bill Clinton: “Clinton was just a rock star in 2012, in this cycle …. He was a secret weapon for DCCC and I anticipate he’ll continue to do that. This is the cool part, one of the cool things that I love. My cell phone would ring and it would be President Clinton and he would start doing race reviews with me around the country … and know almost as much as I did about who we were recruiting.”
The Clintons will continue to be a powerful ally going into 2016. With Hillary recovering from her concussion, she’ll be looking to the White House herself. And she’ll need all the help she can get.
National Republican Congressional Committee Losing Debt Crisis Messaging
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is doing little to shape the debate over the fiscal cliff, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is targeting 40 House Republicans over the fiscal cliff and the attendant tax issues.
The DCCC’s attack site, GOPHostageTakers.com, has a petition that demands John Boehner and the 40 House Republicans the DCCC are targeting allow a vote on taxes for the middle class.
The DCCC has also issued press releases in all of those House Republicans’ districts to local reporters in which they remind the reporters of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s petition to leave the tax cuts for the middle class intact and raise taxes on the wealthy.
Because the petition needs a significant number of Republicans to be accepted, the DCCC is pushing those Republicans they view as vulnerable hard to cave on tax increases. They even have robocalls in 35 of the Republicans’ districts.
The NRCC? They’ve authored press releases that don’t mention Democrats at all. They simply have no idea how to sell the Republican message.
GOP strategist Tyler Harber claims:
I think we're two years away from the next election that would be meaningful to those 40 vulnerable Democrats, and the more damning message occurs after they have taken the vote. I think the strategists on the Republican side, by and large, see this as a waste of money.
DCCC: ‘The Tea Party Is Over’
In a memo sent before Election Day, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wrote that the Tea Party movement has effectively ended.
According to the DCCC, 2012 will be the "undoing of the 2010 Tea Party tsunami that crashed upon Washington."
"The Tea Party is over," the memo says.
The DCCC accused Tea Party Republicans of running on a "common agenda: blocking President Obama, repealing health care reform, opposing government regulation, favoring massive cuts in government spending and refusing to compromise."
Americans happen to approve of such an agenda, though, as was reflected in 2010's midterm elections.
The DCCC also accused Republicans of being on defense this election cycle when Democrats have been the ones defending their turf on the electoral map.
"The election has entirely been a battle defined by Democrats, as we've been on offense all cycle," the memo states. "Regardless of whether they win or lose, the Tea Party of 2010 is over. They've been forced on defense in the message fight all cycle long, and now those who win will have done so by giving up on the Tea Party."
Even mainstream media organizations like Yahoo! News have said such declarations could be "premature":
Tea party-backed candidates dominated Republican primary contests across the country in 2012, launching what could be a new class of future Republican leaders. In Texas, Ted Cruz defeated the establishment candidate backed by Gov. Rick Perry, and in Indiana, Richard Mourdock forced longtime Republican Sen. Richard Lugar into early retirement. Looking to 2013, tea party groups who are begrudgingly backing Mitt Romney have vowed to press him, should he become president, toward conservative positions.
The tea party, a grass-roots network of conservative activists, drove many Republican House and Senate candidates to victory in the midterm elections two years ago, but its influence seems to be overshadowed in 2012 by the presidential election. Still, the infrastructure that was built since the movement launched in 2009 has been used to promote Republican congressional candidates and serve as a backup ground game for Romney's presidential campaign.
Streisand Pens Panicked Fundraising Letter for Democrats
Memories, like the corners of my mind … misty watercolor memories … of the way we were … scattered liberals ... who united in ’08 … now the coalition’s dying … was it all a blur …
Yes, Babs, it was. Stop your screaming – calm down; you’re still worth $340 million.
Barbra Streisand, who boasts a double-digit IQ along with a blind (actually in reality, cross-eyed) affinity for liberal causes, has taken it upon herself to lecture the entire Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) mailing list with an “emergency” email urging all of those liberals to cough up their last dollar:
The Democratic Party urgently needs your help. We’re just weeks from the most important election in a generation and every single thing Democrats like you and I spent a lifetime fighting for is on the line. Republican Super PACs are pounding President Obama and Democratic candidates with millions of dollars of vicious attack ads. And, they could tip the balance of the election for Tea Party extremists. That would be a disaster for America and we can’t let it happen. We must close the funding gap, It’s up to you and me to make this happen. Please rush an emergency contribution right away while there’s still time. President Obama needs a new Democratic Majority to get America moving again.
Yup -- those dern pore Tea Party Extremists have somehow jimmied the lock to America’s heart and hornswoggled those ignorant American voters.
Matt Philbin, Managing Editor of the Culture and Media Institute, wryly noted: “They can read the poll numbers as well as anyone, and their guy is losing ground. Plus, celebrities are nothing if not superficial, and a big part of Obama's appeal to them has been charisma. The ‘optics’ of the first presidential debate must have been jarring."
And Keff Roe, GOP Political Consultant and founder of Axiom Strategies, commented on liberals’ distress, saying the chance that Obama may lose triggers celebrities to “pull out all the stops to prevent a family-oriented, business-oriented, wholesome individual to the Office of the President. When Hollywood liberals begin to panic, you know you are doing something right.”
Streisand isn’t alone; Eva Longoria, an Obama campaign co-chair, last week retweeted a vulgar message aimed at GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Hate to Rain on Streisand’s Parade, but Obama’s coalition isn’t Evergreen anymore; People don’t believe Obama’s the Greatest Star any more. No More Tears, Babs; as those dumb benighted Tea Parties and their fellow Americans will tell you about Obama, Enough is Enough.
